2 Chicago Tribune | Section 1 | Saturday, April 4, 2020
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■In a story in Thursday’s print edition about how to
receive government stimulus checks, the rule for Social
Security recipients requiring them to file a simplified tax
return was reversed late Wednesday after the story was
edited and sent to press.
The first loss of a Chi-
cago police officer linked to
COVID-19 will be consid-
ered an on-duty death, po-
lice leaders said Friday,
giving the officer’s family
access to special financial
benefits.
Interim Chicago police
Superintendent Charlie
Beck announced that deci-
sion at Police Headquarters
during an event to thank
donors whose contrib-
utions have aided officers
during the outbreak.
The officer, Marco
DiFranco, 50, died early
Thursday at Advocate Lu-
theran General Hospital in
Park Ridge, according to
the Cook County medical
examiner’s office. He was
assigned to the citywide
narcotics unit and was
hired as a Chicago cop in
1998, police said.
“And because of that his
family will continue to have
the protections of the Chi-
cago Police Department,”
Beck said of the benefits
decision. “They will not be
destitute. They will be tak-
en care of. They will contin-ue to be a part of the CPD
family.”
Beck did not say how
DiFranco contracted the
disease. But he said the
determination of classify-
ing DiFranco’s death as in
the line of duty comes as
the officer and other first
responders have been
tasked with working in
conditions that can put
them at greater risk of
becoming infected than the
general public.
Recipients of line of duty
death benefits receive the
deceased officer’s annual
salary for a year from the
time of the officer’s death,
and pending approval of
the City Council, the
spouse and any children
under 26 would get health
care benefits, according to
the mayor’s office. From
there, the officer’s family
would be eligible to receive
the officer’s pension, pend-
ing approval from city’s
police pension fund, the
mayor’s office said. CPD
also gives the deceased offi-
cer a full honors funeral,
which in DiFranco’s case
would be planned around
social distancing restric-tions, CPD said.
What’s more, the Chi-
cago Police Memorial
Foundation plans to give
$60,000 to DiFranco’s fam-
ily next week and cover
school tuition for his two
young children from now
through college.
At last report there were
more than 70 Chicago po-
lice officers and two civil-
ian department employees
who have tested positive
for the coronavirus. Offi-
cials said additional deci-
sions about benefits in any
future cases that might take
a turn for the worst would
be made individually.
As of Friday, police offi-
cials said there were about
1,000 CPD officers and ci-
vilian employees combined
on sick leave, which is
about 7% of the depart-
ment.
“I watch that every day. I
don’t have the numbers
written down. They’re in-
grained in my soul,” Beck
said.
The CPD employees out
sick have wide-ranging ail-
ments, officials said, but the
increased numbers were
likely due to employeeswho took time off for pre-
cautionary measures be-
cause of the coronavirus,
Also attending the event
Friday was David Brown,
the former Dallas police
chief who is Mayor Lori
Lightfoot’s choice to lead
the 13,000-strong depart-
ment after Beck’s expected
departure in two weeks.
Brown must be voted into
the position at an upcoming
City Council meeting.
Asked about his first pri-
ority as superintendent,
Brown said he wants to
convey to the rank and file
that he cares about them. “I
sincerely care about right
now the virus’ impact on
them and their lives and
their families’ lives.”
Secondly, he wants to
focus on the upcoming
summer months, when the
potential for violence in
Chicago is at its highest.
This means executing
Beck’s reorganization of the
department, designed to
put more officers, including
detectives, into the hands of
area deputy chiefs and dis-
trict commanders so they
can fight crime on the
ground more efficiently.Cop’s death linked to virus to be considered
on-duty, entitling family to greater benefits
By Jeremy Gornerearplugs, a toothbrush and
several surgical-type masks
have been placed on each
cot. The bays also have
individual call lights and
electrical outlets so patients
can have entertainment if
they want.
Rooms set aside for a
pharmacy, laundry mach-
ines, medical supplies, med-
ical gas canister storage and
housekeeping also have
been built.
“This is nobody’s ideal,
obviously, for where they
would like to convalesce in a
hall like this, but this is an
emergency so we’ve tried to
make this so they could be
as comfortable as possible,”
said Dr. Christina Bratis, the
site’s clinical chief of staff.
Another group of 500
beds should be available
next week, with 1,250 more
by April 20. The final 750
acute-care beds are ex-
pected to be in place by the
end of next month.
“This is the product of all
of us working together,”
Lightfoot said. “The size,
the speed and the scope is
unlike anything else in the
country. Construction has
been going on 24/7, and we
put up this first phase in a
matter of days, which is
probably unheard of.”
Pritzker acknowledged
the facility may never be
used. In fact, he hopes it
isn’t.
“That’s honestly what we
are praying for,” he said. “If
no patient ends up at Mc-
Cormick Place, then we will
have done our job, people
will have stayed at home,
and they will have done
what they needed to do to
bend this curve.”
The 500 new beds will be
overseen by 14 nursing sta-
tions. Officials say they have
enough medical personnel
to staff the first phase, with
nearly 140 people already
contracted. The lakefront
facility will be run by Dr.
Nick Turkal, the former
CEO of Advocate Aurora
Health Care.
The site’s staff will be
protected by an executiveorder that shields hospitals,
health care workers and
volunteers from lawsuits
when they’re assisting with
the state’s efforts to combat
the new coronavirus.
Pritzker said Friday that
he signed the order because
the state has had to grant
licensing waivers to people
who are returning to the
health care profession or
who are in the final months
of nursing or medical
schools. Hospitals may be
reluctant to hire these
workers because they fear
being sued if something
goes wrong, a concern the
governor said he wanted to
eliminate because the state
is going to need the extra
help.
“Let me be clear, we are
in an emergency,” Pritzker
said. “We’re bringing all
these people in so we want
to make sure they know and
the hospital administrators
know ... they can use these
personnel and they must
use these personnel in order
to deal with the onslaught
of patients that are coming.”
The Metropolitan Pier
and Exposition Authority,
the agency that runs Mc-
Cormick Place, has been
authorized to spend up to
$13 million on construction,
which is being done by 400
workers representing the
U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers, the Illinois National
Guard and local contrac-
tors. Per the convention
center’s ironclad labor
agreements, any construc-
tion work not done by
military or government em-
ployees will be handled by
union workers.The overhaul will be paid
for in part by $15 million in
federal funding from FEMA
to support the Army Corps
of Engineers’ project.
Under the terms of the
lease, McPier will allow its
North and South buildings
to be used for free, though
the Illinois Emergency
Management Agency will
be billed for any additional
services it requires, accord-
ing to McPier spokeswom-
an Cynthia McCafferty.
Officials have warned
that if members of the
public choose not to follow
the governor’s stay-at-home
order, there could be more
than 40,000 hospitali-
zations in Chicago — a
number that would break
the health system. As of
Friday, Illinois had 12,
hospital beds free out of a
total of 31,166 in the system,
according to the Illinois
Department of Public
Health.
Currently, 50% of occu-
pied ICU beds are being
used by COVID-19 patients,
health officials said. Co-
ronavirus patients also
make up 66% of the ventila-
tors being used across the
state and 26% of the state’s
total number of ventilators.
In recent weeks, the
state’s 2,500 ventilators
have become a political
football as Pritzker repeat-
edly has criticized the fed-
eral government for ignor-
ing his request for more
ventilators and other sup-
plies. Jared Kushner —
President Trump’s son-in-
law and a senior adviser
who has a loosely defined
role in the administration’spandemic response —
pushed back this week, ac-
cusing governors of not
understanding their needs
and failing to stash their
own supplies away.
“The notion of the fed-
eral stockpile was it’s sup-
posed to be our stockpile,”
Kushner said during a press
briefing Thursday. “It’s not
supposed to be state stock-
piles that they then use.”
Pritzker said both Illinois
and Chicago maintained
their own stockpiles, but
they also should have access
to the Strategic National
Stockpile, which has the
express purpose of supple-
menting state and local sup-
plies during public health
emergencies. He often has
accused the federal govern-
ment of abdicating its role,
saying states have been left
to fight among themselves
for equipment and protec-
tive gear on the free market.
“I don’t know if Jared
Kushner knows this, but it’s
called the United States of
America,” Pritzker said.
“The federal government,
which has a stockpile, is
supposed to be backstop-
ping the states. He appar-
ently does not know that.”
Pritzker and the Trump
administration, however,
did find common ground on
the issue of wearing masks
when outside the home.
On Friday, both recom-
mended the general public
put them on in accordance
with the latest Centers for
Disease Control and Pre-
vention guidance, a recom-
mendation that has evolved
as the number of confirmed
cases has risen across the
country.
“The doctors all agree
that this virus can be spread
through droplets, like when
you sneeze or cough. So
blocking that by wearing a
mask in public seems like a
common sense way to do
what’s right for everyone
around you,” Pritzker said.
“The most important thing
you can do, frankly is stay
home. But when you do go
outside, or when you must
go to the grocery store or
pharmacy wearing some-
thing to cover your face is a
good idea, based upon what
the science says.”Gov. J.B. Pritzker tours Hall C Unit 1 of the COVID-19 alternate site Friday at McCormick Place in Chicago.CHRIS SWEDA/CHICAGO TRIBUNE PHOTOSOne of 500 beds in Hall C Unit 1 of the COVID-19 alternate
site. Another group should be available next week.Hospital
Continued from Page 1CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK